This invention relates generally to removable devices useful in illuminating panels, and specifically to devices which are removable and reinstallable via bayonet and/or other socket-style mounts.
Panels such as automobile dashboard panels are commonly illuminated by small, incandescent light bulbs. Such bulbs can be installed into the dashboard circuitry by a threaded male assembly (as used in conventional light bulbs), but for speed and ease of installing and de-installing, the bulbs may be connected to the dashboard circuitry via a bayonet connection.
Light bulbs, unfortunately, have a relatively short life span. Because of vibration and environmental stresses inherent in the use in automobile dashboards, light bulbs frequently burn out after only 500 to 1,000 hours.
In an attempt to develop panel illumination devices with a greater life span, light-emitting diodes ("LED's") have been tried as substitutes for incandescent light bulbs. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,457.
LED's have a life span typically greater than about 500,000 hours. However, a single LED generally emits much less light than a typical light bulb, so a number of LED's must be grouped together in a single assembly (array) to provide the requisite illuminating power.
Also, unlike the light given off by a light bulb, the light emitted from an LED is projected in only one direction. Therefore, an LED array must be properly directed towards the object which is to be illuminated. Unfortunately, where the array is installed with the screw-in or bayonet-style mount commonly used in commercial applications, it has been impossible to change the orientation and direction of the light projected by an LED array after the illuminating array is installed.
There is therefore a need for a panel illumination array which may be adjusted after the device has been installed so as to direct light emitted onto the object to be illuminated.